Personally,

go for a Berlingo Multispace or Partner Tepee (essentially the same vehicle) in 7 seater mode.

You can achieve as high as 50mpg with the 1.6 diesel, are very cheap to service, easy to work on, cheap to insure.

And for a french vehicle there one of the most reliable (if such a thing is true).

There is also a 7 seater version of the latest Fiat Doblo but I've yet come across one on the used market.

They are up right and excellent for elderly people, partial disabled people or tall people to get in and out off with wide openings.

Yourself, wife, three children and mother = 6. So a Honda FR-V petrol auto can be had for £10000, possibly even a late 08/58/09 registered 1.8 auto.

Advantages,

6 full size independent seats without eating into boot space, (not 2 front seats, a rear bench, and two folding mini-seats taking up most of the boot)

Can take three Type 1/Type 2 child seats across the rear, with access allowing one to 'walk through' the car fastening safety belts.

Shorter than a BMW 3-series, narrower than a C-Max, more boot space than a Golf - so great to manoeuvre and easy to park.

The petrol auto (5-spd torque convertor) is suprisingly economical on longer journeys, thanks to a high top gear. Expect 35-38mpg on a longer run.

The interior in ours is standing up to family abuse well.

Disadvantages,

Not a looker

They're getting scarce now, as owners are holding onto them (like us), and their used car reputation for practicality and reliability is growing.

And thats about it.

Honda UK must wonder what they did wrong in trying to crack the UK MPV market. They released three terrific MPVs ino the UK market and all three failed to catch on.

1) Honda Shuttle - super-comfortable Galaxy size MPV with slick petrol/auto combination and supreme reliabilty

2) Honda Stream - the first performance MPV, years before the S-Max and Zafira VXR.

3) Honda FR-V - see above.

I dont blame Honda for deleting an MPV from their UK line up. We simply dont know a good thing when we see one, and instead lap up compromised crossovers & SUVs.

Edited by Sulphur Man on 29/07/2013 at 13:37